U.S. automakers need to get innovative

Another school year begins, and despite consistently rising gas prices and the latest war (Russia-Georgia), which in all likelihood is to secure future access to known oil supplies, there are still lots of folks who park and burn Texas Tea waiting to pick up their kids.

Hey, I can’t blame them. It’s another hot Santa Clarita summer, and who wants to stick to the leather seats, push a button to roll down the SUV windows, or even get out and wait under a tree in the breeze?

I read that next year’s Toyota Prius is going to have solar panels built into the small roof to power the AC system. Apparently Toyota refined the idea from another Japanese auto maker.

Imagine if these panels were built into the huge roofs of every SUV? They’d probably power the DVD, the 7.1 audio systems and the AC.

Solar power has come a long way from the 1970s, and every other country (except the USA) on this planet, along with T. Boone Pickens, has embraced the necessity of it.

The point is twofold: 1) American auto has dropped the design ball yet again on a way to help this country and make a buck; 2) We can no longer afford to live in the past, and we must demand from our corporations real solutions to the energy problem and not more occupational wars or wars by proxy.

We’ve been here before and found solutions. In the mid-19th century, when the world read by the light of whale oil and the world’s whale population became nearly extinct, industrial progress was saved by the discovery of black crude in Pennsylvania. We’re at that point again.

If you get a chance, write Big 3 Auto and ask them why they’re going bankrupt for a lack of innovative ideas.